


Lies of Omission

by breakdancingfish



Series: Dishonesty [2]
Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 18:45:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15669075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breakdancingfish/pseuds/breakdancingfish
Summary: William Brandt wasn’t inFallout. Here’s a theory as to what he was doing instead.





	Lies of Omission

**Author's Note:**

> Though I don’t think reading the previous story first is a requirement, you’ll probably enjoy a minor cameo slightly more if you do.

William Brandt had spotted his target. He could have just admired the view, but opted to approach silently until close enough to capture. Once the glass jars were out of his hands, Will enveloped his arms around Benji Dunn’s torso. 

“I’m going to write a thank you note to the company that made those sweatpants since they hug your cute little ass so well.” 

Glancing over his shoulder, Will saw a faint blush appear on Benji’s face. “You exclusively asked me to move in so you could look at my butt while loading the dishwasher.”

“You know, you’re half right,” Will said, and ran his hand under Benji’s shirt. “I want to watch you attempt to load the dishwasher while otherwise occupied.” 

To his credit, an audible inhale was the only reaction as Will pushed downward and wrapped his fist around Benji’s shaft. Somehow he managed not only to continue placing forks and spoons in the silverware basket, but also to arrange them in the optimal pattern for cleanliness. Will stepped up his game with an optimal pattern of his own, slowly sliding his fist and swiping his thumb around the head with each change of direction.

“Have I mentioned–” plate put away “–how much I love–” rack slid in “–that you’re lefthanded?” 

“It might have come up a time or twelve.” 

“It always comes up with youuuuu…” Benji trailed off as he finally closed the door. 

“Nice one.” 

“Thanks.” As Will’s hand traveled lower, Benji observed, “If you don’t move the fabric soon, I’ll have to retire your favorite trousers.” Will immediately had Benji turned around, his pants down, and his cock in his mouth. “You are a model of efficiency.” Will grinned, and the curving of his lips prompted a ridiculous moan. “You’re so impressively skilled, you must have gotten top marks at blowjob school, graduated at the top of–”

“Benji.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Shut up and fuck my face already.” 

He said, “Yes sir,” and when Will was back in position, attempted to plunge even deeper. 

***

“Did you like the scrapbooking line?” 

“Loved it. Your improvisational range has come so far!” 

Benji and Will were carpooling, the term they chose to use since they were still a bit paranoid. As soon as Will’s car passed the perimeter of CIA grounds, Benji shared his news. 

“I won two tickets to _Turandot_ in Vienna.” 

“Oh yeah? Hopefully over a weekend. I really don’t want to ask Hunley for any vacation days. Or figure out what excuse I’d provide for the request.” 

Benji smirked. He and Will were definitely on the same page regarding the potential generosity of their current supervisor. Though keeping their relationship concealed was relatively easy when there was no one else in the building to communicate with outside of work, schedule coordination might be a bit obvious. And then there was the other issue. 

“This weekend actually.” Benji sighed before continuing. “Also, I didn’t enter to win two tickets to _Turandot_ in Vienna. And I’ve never entered to win _anything_ using this address.” 

Will figured Benji could see the wheels turning in his head through his eyes. “No one ever wins a single ticket to anything.”

“Yes, a rare prize indeed.” 

“If someone were attempting to abduct you or something else nefarious, _Turandot_ wouldn’t be a bad plan, but probably not the first choice.” Will paused for dramatic effect. “A convention for lovers of cheesy t-shirts.” 

Benji nodded. “Yes, that would be more customized.” Neither of them mentioned the elephant in the room. Or rather, the Ethan not in the car. “When the questions come, I think you know I’m going, you just don’t know what I’ll do once I get there. I mean, how could you? _I_ don’t know what I’ll do once I get there.” 

“You’ll go see _Turandot_. Do an Italian refresher course during the flight.” 

“Good idea.” Benji hesitated, but Will didn’t care. He was calculating flight durations in his mind. “Is it bad that I’m a little nervous?” 

Will made his typical _Benji, you’re being silly_ face. “Nervous? One way you get a nice break from our everyday monotony, the other way you get an adventure to tell me about once we’re reunited. No reason to be nervous.” 

“No, you’re supposed to say, ‘Yes it’s bad! You’ve been out of the field for six months! Don’t go!’ And I’ll say, ‘Certainly, you’re right, I’ll stay,’ And we’ll just lurk in bed all weekend watching _Black Mirror_ instead.” 

“As nice as that sounds, you were bored of sitting at a desk before you even sat down. You can’t tell me you’re not excited.” As he came to a stop at a red light, Will weaved his fingers into the hair on the back of Benji’s head, using the tips to massage his scalp. “Besides, you can’t miss me if you’re not gone.” 

“You are a very smart man William Brandt.” 

***

Sure, right up until the Chancellor of Austria died. Then Will found himself scrambling to make sure his boyfriend didn’t get himself killed. Hunley’s cronies tended to bypass the “ready” in “ready, fire, aim.” Will debated disclosing his relationship with Benji to Luther, but since the imminent death of his teammates turned out to be sufficient motivation to get the man on board, the reveal became a moot point. Besides, Benji was the one who knew Luther better; if they were going to come out as a couple, he was the man to do it. 

So, fortunately sooner than he really had enough time to worry, Will was in Morocco. Luther turned out to be the perfect distraction, as bickering over vehicles meant not thinking about Benji. And then there he was, more surprised than they were; finding him and Ethan was specifically the goal, semantics about location aside. 

Car chases were fairly run-of-the-mill in their line of business, but the upside-down crashes tended to be more often delivered than received. Will didn’t actually see all the flips, but his highly accurate math skills told him “several” was the number. Eventually he was running on autopilot, releasing Ethan from the car before Benji without thought. Because Ethan happened to be closer, because Ethan’s the more experienced agent, because Benji would berate Will later for those very reasons if he didn’t release Ethan first, take your pick. Yet Benji was cracking jokes, forcing Will to remind himself very strongly not to kiss him immediately. 

Benji brushed it all aside and started briefing them as though he hadn’t almost died. Ethan did die though, but a lot of the other details about the lighting booth and Ilsa Faust and gait analysis went unacknowledged. By the time they caught up with Ethan, Will was feeling much more calm. Benji’s floral prints tended to have that effect. But once Ethan shot down Benji’s suggestion to notify MI6, all the frustration from earlier returned with a vengeance. 

And then Benji was kidnapped. With Solomon Lane not there to take the blame, Will directed all his rage at Ethan. If he hadn’t been the best shot at getting Benji back, Will might have murdered Ethan on the spot. However, Will played his part in the plan. He wasn’t lying about not seeing another way. He just wasn’t entirely honest. “We do what we have to do for our friends.” 

Will was too busy to be happy when he heard Benji’s voice through the phone. He and Luther had a job to do, and Benji would have only been temporarily safe until they completed the job. Of course they got the work done flawlessly once Benji was there to help. Will never saw Benji with the bomb strapped to him. Will wasn’t even informed about Benji and the bomb until well after the fact. The lack of visual didn’t matter. Will could have a very active imagination. 

***

Things didn’t exactly go back to normal after defeating Lane. Their more recent version of normal had been vastly different from their historical definition though, so normalcy was very much a matter of perspective. Benji considered himself on call for whatever Ethan-level emergency came up next. Will suspected he’d be getting a relapse of cabin fever soon enough, but the whole having a choice in the matter gave him an entirely different outlook. Plus he wasn’t being interrogated for any knowledge of Ethan’s whereabouts since the man was now asset number one instead of enemy number one. And Luther un-resigned, so that was cool. 

As for Will himself, he was navigating the new office politics surrounding the new secretary. It was… different to say the least. Hunley’s whole “manifestation of destiny” speech had put all his actions from the past six months in a new light. If Benji could forgive him, Will concluded that he might as well too. He could even see himself growing to respect the man as much as the one formerly with the title if he played his cards right. But Will had yet to grow fond of dealing with him daily. 

As soon as Will walked through the front door, Benji was in his face saying “Let’s go bowling!” And yeah, that surprisingly sounded kinda brilliant. Though they weren’t screaming their status from the rooftops, they’d ceased caring who might discover them out on a date. 

After Benji knocked down his fifth strike, Will made the connection. “No wonder you’re so good at this. It’s skeeball without the ramp.” 

“Would you feel better if you heckled me?” 

“You bowling worse doesn’t make me bowl any better.” Will did succeed at bowling a spare on the next frame, but Benji didn’t seem to notice or realize it was back to being his turn. He was staring at his bowling shoes. “Earth to Benji.” 

“It would be really nice if all these idiots we constantly have to defeat could realize their lives won’t be any better just by making someone else’s worse.” 

Will sat down beside him. “Wanna talk about it?” Benji shook his head. “Maybe you should.” 

“Really I don’t think about it much. Then something random reminds me and I’m angry for a while and then something else happens and I forget again.” He rested his head on Will’s shoulder. “I guess I’ve grown into a seasoned pro, capable of moving on with my life between crises.” 

“In that case…” Will quickly stood and pulled Benji up with him. “Go bowl and forget again.” He started to sit back down, but Benji stopped him with a brief kiss. As Benji knocked down every pin, Will wanted to take his own advice. Clearly he got the chance very soon, but it wasn’t working. Once Benji being in danger had his focus, Will couldn’t think of anything else. 

***

the car was flipping and Benji was in that car so there had to be something Will could do but even though he was driving as fast he could he still wasn’t getting any closer as though the laws of physics didn’t apply because each hit made the next one come faster like friction didn’t exist or there was no resistance in the world but Will’s road was gone without a chance of even getting close so he yelled at Luther to do something but Luther wasn’t there and then he yelled at Ilsa to ride to Benji and help him but that didn’t work either because Ilsa wasn’t there and Will knew it wouldn’t work but he still yelled at Ethan for getting them into the whole mess but Ethan didn’t hear him because Ethan wasn’t there so Benji was alone and Will could do nothing but yell into the void and close his eyes and 

“Are you alright?”

What? Why would Benji ask him that? Why was he shaking? Will opened his eyes. 

“Will. You were having a nightmare. You okay now?” 

Benji was fine. There was no car. Will reached his hand up and grabbed Benji’s from where it was still clutching his arm. “I thought… I thought you weren’t here.” 

“Sounds rough. Well, I am here.” Benji in turn took Will’s hand again, holding it with both of his own. “Can I help? Can I…” He switched to his _I’m intentionally taking the sexy voice too far and will only amuse you_ accent. “Get your mind on something else?” 

Will smiled, but shook his head. “Plan that for next time. I might wake up faster.” He pushed Benji’s hands away. “Since I’m already conscious this time, why don’t you just roll over so I can spoon you until I fall asleep.” 

“Can do.” Benji snuggled backward until Will’s chest stopped him. 

***

Ethan was adopting a new identity, playing the long game, making it believable when attempting to acquire radioactive materials in the future. He didn’t require assistance yet, but it was only a matter of time. The evil organization of the moment had adopted the name of The Apostles. 

“These groups are sounding more and more like bad bands.” 

“I’m pretty sure Ethan mentioned a ‘Bone Doctor’ previously.” 

“How about, ‘Bone Doctor and the Presumed Dead’?”

“Maybe if emo were still on trend.” Then Will sneezed again, and internally cursed the changing seasons. Benji automatically blessed him from the corner of the room, where he was changing one of the air filters. “Thanks.” Will wondered what project Benji would tackle next. He’d already washed the vacuum and sanitized the entire laundry room. The meta angle would have been somewhat amusing if Will weren’t also genuinely grateful. 

The world news was detailing the latest Brexit updates. It might not be good news per se, but at least no one was dead. Yet Benji still came up with an IMF connection. “Should we stock up on additional passports? There’s no telling when the laws will be changing.” 

“Maybe. There’s a chance we can get away with less commercial travel in the future. But I’ll get on making extras for all of us anyway.” Already using his laptop, Will added it to his tasks without delay. Strangely, his day-to-day assignments had only increased of late. With a distinct side train of thought to be careful what he wished for, Will almost wanted Ethan to need them sooner. 

“I want us to go to Andalusia. I want us to go flamenco dancing.” 

Now that got Will’s attention. He looked away from his screen to see that Benji had finished the switch and was walking toward him. Will tilted his head. “I wasn’t aware flamenco was a partner dance.” 

“I don’t care. I think you’d be good with the castanets.”

Will pressed his thumb to his other fingers a few times. “What am I, a puppeteer?” Benji was to his chair by then, and reached to pull Will out of it. “Oh no. I am super gross so I am not going to dance with you.” 

“I have the option of taking a shower if you happen to sneeze on me,” Benji pointed out as he got Will to his feet. “Okay, it’s not like a puppet; one half would be against your palm.” Benji folded Will’s hand onto itself to demonstrate. “And you’re going to have one arm up here–” he placed it a bit over Will’s head “–and the other back here–” twisted a bit behind Will’s back “–and you should have your shirt off.” 

“What?!”

“Well, that one’s always true actually. But we’ll save it for next time since you’re still learning.” 

“You are one exceptional dork.” 

Benji leaned in, whispered “Just you wait,” and began relentlessly tickling him. Will went on offense and defense simultaneously, blocking his chest and going for Benji’s neck while laughing hard enough to cry. Which wasn’t exactly unexpected given the state of his sinuses, but made navigating Benji to the couch more of a challenge nonetheless. 

When he had Benji pinned and caught his breath, Will asked, “Do you even know where Andalusia is?” 

“Of course!” Benji answered indignantly. “Otherwise ‘Spanish Bombs’ wouldn’t make sense.” 

“Good luck getting me to dance with you in the future.” 

Benji snorted. “As if you’d ever retreat from a dance fight.” 

Will sat up and grabbed a tissue off the table, first wiping his cheeks and then blowing his nose. 

“You know, steam is supposed to break up the stuff causing all those symptoms.” Will side-eyed Benji, who was still horizontal. “I mean, I know I could use a shower after messing with so much filth today.” He stood and walked around the table, his eyes never leaving Will’s. “But if you don’t want to save a few cents on the water bill, then by all means ignore me.” 

“Bad behavior doesn’t get rewarded, Benji.” 

“Sure, but don’t punish yourself by punishing me.” With that, Benji entered the bathroom. Soon Will heard the familiar sound of the water spraying. Next up, some vaguely familiar lyrics from The Clash, though it seemed the only Spanish part Benji knew was “Oh mi corazón.” Which he repeated. A lot. Will estimated Benji perhaps had earned a prize given all his activities right up until the attack. So he went to join him. 

***

Taking his time accomplishing the last errand on his list, Will had been wandering around the pharmacy for several minutes when he remembered to text Benji. 

_At the drug store. Do we need anything?_

He wasn’t really expecting a reply. Odds were Benji was glued to the latest game he was marathoning, so the browsing continued. Nothing in the “sleep aid” section seemed acceptable. Will wasn’t the type to find himself addicted to substances of any kind, but he was a creature of habit. He wasn’t sure he trusted himself to avoid taking a product a third night if he’d already done it the preceding two. As Will rounded the corner to the next aisle, his phone vibrated. 

_Condoms?_

Will considered going with a winking emoji, but so much as a single image tended to trigger a landslide in response. 

_Why do you think I’m here?_

_Sour patch watermelons then._

_You got it._

The allergy section seemed more reasonable. Will sniffed, rubbed his watery eyes, decided he could justify some more Benadryl, and dropped it into the basket. 

***

the car wasn’t flipping and Benji wasn’t in that car but Benji did have a bomb strapped to him so there had to be something Will could do but he didn’t even have a vehicle so all he could do was run but every human on the planet was blocking his way so he yelled at Luther to do something through his earpiece but Luther didn’t answer and then he yelled at Ilsa to stop Lane but Ilsa didn’t answer and Will knew it wouldn’t work but he still yelled at Ethan for getting them into the whole mess but Ethan didn’t answer and Ethan would never answer so Benji was alone and Will could do nothing but yell into the void and close his eyes and 

“It’s okay Will.” 

he could almost hear Benji’s voice if he listened hard enough but that wasn’t right because why would Benji be comforting Will when it should be the other way around because Will wasn’t in danger except the danger of losing Benji forever which okay maybe he did need to be comforted after all because he could handle a bomb strapped to himself much better than this but 

“Wake up Will.” 

it wasn’t like he could just wake up from it like a nightmare because that would mean Benji would be in bed with him instead of in mortal peril and… mumbling? 

“…you asked for it.” 

Will was so confused because usually he was so much more in control but apparently just thinking about being in bed with Benji was getting him hard and man was that fucked up unless it was like a side effect of adrenaline or something because he was still running because it wasn’t flight or fight it was flight to fight and no one was going to rescue Benji but him but no that wasn’t right because he just wanted Benji safe even if he couldn’t save him himself and he could recognize

“Will. Open your eyes.” 

Will did as he was told. There was no bomb. Benji was fine. He was more than fine. He was giving Will a handjob. 

“I don’t think it was faster at all actually.” 

Will had a strange combination of physical pleasure and mental relief coursing through his body and his brain. Perhaps his heart had been rung out and could only be refilled via orgasm. But regardless, Will could feel moisture welling up in his eyes. “This isn’t working.” 

Benji looked at his hand and furrowed his eyebrows. “Haven’t had any complaints before.” 

“No, I mean…” Will gathered his thoughts. He waited until Benji’s attention was on him again, and said “Let’s be clear, Benji: you’re the best thing in my life.” 

Suddenly Benji was straddling him, rapidly kissing and stroking him, like making Will come was a race against time. He grabbed Benji’s face with both hands as his hips automatically moved for more contact. When Benji pulled away gasping for air, he brought up his other hand and wiped a tear from the corner of Will’s eye with his thumb. That was the catalyst for Will letting go, openly crying and finally getting off. They both ignored the mess, with Benji moving back to the side and placing his head on Will’s chest. 

“But?” 

Will took a few deep breaths. “I can’t just watch helplessly as Ethan gets you killed.” 

“There’s a decent chance Ethan gets himself killed first.” 

Will literally rolled his eyes. “Remind me, the cockroach in _WALL-E_ , what did you name it?”

“Okay, bad point. But come on, you’re the one who encouraged me to go! You know I’ve–” 

“It’s not about your abilities. It’s about my lack of agency.” Will figured Benji would be chiming in with some sort of comment, but when he didn’t have an immediate response to that, Will resumed speaking. “I’m not an idiot, we’re both always in danger. But maybe if I’m not there with you I can pretend you’re fine. If I don’t see it happen, if I’m not present for the aftermath, maybe I won’t have nightmares about it. And as impossible as it would be to live without you–” he swallowed in an effort not to get even more choked up “–it would be worse if I were there when it happened and couldn’t do anything.” 

Benji repositioned himself so he could drape his arm across Will. “So what’s the plan then? I go back to being man in the chair?” 

“I am not going to let you sacrifice your agency for mine. But you’re still not gonna like it.” 

“Then tell me so I can either rant or come up with something better.”

“Now that the IMF is a thing again and Hunley no longer needs babysitting, I’ll go back in the field. And when Ethan locates his next villain, you’ll go with him.” 

Benji frowned. “Long-distance?” 

“Won’t we save the world faster knowing once it’s safe we can come back home to each other?” 

After thinking for a moment, Benji brought up an incident Will hadn’t recalled in ages. “I would’ve been wrecked if something had happened to you before I could shoot that guy back in India.” 

Will rolled onto his side so he could bring their foreheads together. “We weren’t together then.” 

“Still had nightmares. And I didn’t have you around to comfort me after them.”

“You see, it goes both ways. You won’t be seeing me near-death either.” 

While Benji pondered something, Will started petting his beard. He kept doing it as Benji said, “I suppose I’m just supposed to trust the system and that you’ll only be working with the best employees we have to offer who are all faster at shooting your enemies than I am.”

“Right. But obviously, if we encounter a shortage of qualified agents because there’s another secretary assassination or something, we’ll make an exception and be first in line to back each other up.” 

“Assuming we’re both still accessible and haven’t gone off the grid.” 

“We better be able to communicate. I anticipate us having tremendous amounts of phone sex.” 

***

The next morning, Will requested to turn on his out of office auto response. As it turned out, the recently reinstated Jane Carter had just requested an additional field agent with analyst experience for her team’s latest impossible mission. Will said a quick goodbye to Hello Kitty, and a very long goodbye to Benji.


End file.
